DeMarco Murray spurns Ohio State to stay at Oklahoma. What do we make of SEC 2025 opponent format?

Intro DeMarco Murray running it back as Oklahoma Sooners running backs coach what does it mean for the Sooners moving forward we'll discuss on today's episode of Locked on Sooners you are locked on Sooners your daily podcast on the Oklahoma Sooners part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day what's up sooner Nation welcome to lock on Sooners and thank you for making lockon Sooners your first listen every single day today's episode is brought to you by Nissan are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further ever wonder what Adventure could be around the next Corner take the Nissan Rogue Nissan Pathfinder or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure check them all out today at nissanusa.com my name is John Williams you can follow me on Twitter at john9 Williams my buddy here is Josh Helmer follow him on Twitter at Josh Onre and Josh the story of the day and really the buildup throughout the week has been DeMarco Murray stays at Oklahoma what's up with DeMarco Murray a lot of Rumblings that he was being pursued not only by college teams but NFL teams as well and Ohio State of the Buckeye state was the team that was pursuing him maybe the most heaviest and it turns out that the Oklahoma sers were able to retain Murray as their running backs coach according to a story from Pete naos of on three it's going to be a three-year contract extension for Murray who is expected to get a pay bump in the process yeah and obviously important for Oklahoma to keep DeMarco Murray around for a number of reasons that we'll touch on in just a moment but uh you know I don't know how serious uh the idea of DeMarco Murray leaving was but obviously whenever you start hearing the Rumblings that somebody like DeMarco Murray is interviewing or whatever interviewing looks or sounds like whatever whatever exactly the correct uh definition or full description of what that looked like it raises the antennas to some degree I would say just judging by what it kind of felt like and you know people you talk to this week that maybe nationally a Pete naos was more concerned than say locally how people felt and I'm not saying one was right and the other was wrong that's just sort of the the feeling that this had was that it was going to be a surprise for you know local media for fans if DeMarco Murray left and again that's not to say that it's impossible for DeMarco Murray because he's this sooner Legend running back and uh obviously got his you know coaching you know big big part of the coaching career started with Oklahoma that it's impossible that he would leave but it would have felt like an upset John for that to have happened so uh I think I start there that it would have surprised me if he left and obviously he's not leaving yeah it would have surprised me as well and also the more that I thought about it the more I The ceiling for Murray at Oklahoma thought okay maybe you have to kind of get away from your Alma moer a little bit if you're hoping to advance uh Beyond just a position coach you know I don't know what DeMarco Murray's career goals and aspirations are but there you know there's a saying in the Bible you're a prophet's not welcom in his hometown and a lot could be said for a position coach in his hometown in his at his Alma Mo that okay maybe the the ceiling is just that um as they continue to reach outside the program for offensive coordinators and and promote guys uh to that co-offensive coordinator role that's not to say that DeMarco Murray couldn't Ascend to that at Oklahoma but maybe you start to wonder like okay do I have a future Beyond just being the running back's coach at Oklahoma now he's really good he's one of the best Oklahoma's lucky to have him but again if he has aspirations beyond that and he sees okay South LR being brought in uh and then adding a I can't remember the the Duke guy that they brought in as an analyst Kevin John thank you Kevin John's you know bringing all these guys in and then having EMT Jones as part of your passing game attack and and all and Bill Bebo a co-a on a coordinator you you got to start to wonder and anybody who has you know career goals and aspirations it's fair to wonder and and somebody who's recruited as well as DeMarco Murray has he's going to have suitors out there you know you can't have blue chip running back classes you can't sign the number one running back in the 2024 cycle and then not get pursued by other schools and blue and blue blood programs I mean the same thing happened you know Jeff leevy and Alabama had a bit of a flirtation back in the 2023 offseason that's just what happens that's kind of part of the game a little bit now whether DeMarco was using all this for leverage to get a new extension with Oklahoma and get a pay BMB who knows only DeMarco Murray and his family and his agent know that but the Ohio State stuff was real Ohio state was very interested in particular Ryan day was very interested in bringing DeMarco Murray to Columbus and I think that should tell you all you need to know about how DeMarco Murray is respected across the country and thankfully Oklahoma gets to keep because again you're you're building a really really nice running back room and DeMarco Murray has a huge huge hand in that not just in what you've done in 2023 uh 2022 2024 but also moving forward in 2025 and 2026 as What are Murrays career goals well I think you touched on something that's important here what are the career goals for DeMarco Murray here's somebody that uh and I heard Parker talk about this a little bit earlier this week it was one of the reasons that he wasn't concerned I guess W with DeMarco Murray potentially leaving or I shouldn't say that he wasn't concerned I don't want to speak for him in that regard but he felt more confident that DeMarco Murray would stay at Oklahoma versus leave because guess what DeMarco Murray doesn't need this big massive pay raise he he's got a nice uh chunk of change from the NFL playing days and uh that's certainly true and I don't know DeMarco Murray personally and haven't asked him about his career goals or financially what his goals are I just uh do subscribe a little bit to the theory John that everybody wants to be valued to some degree whether or not you've got that nice nest egg or this or that so I don't know what makes DeMarco Murray tick but I can understand where even if his career goals aren't okay I want to be an offensive coordinator and then a head coach which did very well may be that for DeMarco Murray and if it is that then you know thinking about interviewing and EXP exporing opportunities elsewhere would make sense because you don't want to say that there is a ceiling in Norman but uh it's it's maybe harder to break through that ceiling more rapidly I if you stay here in Norman just because look uh you go somewhere else and you do the kind of things that you've done in Norman and all of a sudden that next opportunity happens quickly but having said that look uh again I think everybody wants to feel good about their situation want to feel valued and DeMarco should feel that so if this was all about okay uh new three-year deal and a hefty pay bump whatever that ultimately looks like then man DeMarco Murray bringing in Taylor Tatum Sauk doing what he did to end last season we'll see what the future holds for Javonte Barnes Xavier Robinson it looks like he's going to continue getting big-time production out of Oklahoma's running backs and uh so you want to lock this kind of guy up and for DeMarco I I guess what I'm saying John and probably the most eloquent way of all time is hey you can't really blame a guy for maybe wanting to advance his career or wanting to see that Financial value next to his name even if he doesn't need it right even if it's just a hey I'm worth this and I know that I'm worth it kind of thing and I want to see that from the University hey you are worth it DeMarco and oh you needed to get this thing done yeah I I get and I'm Murrays contract not GNA downplay what Parker's saying about the the Eagles contract that he got when he left Dallas in free agency and I mean he made big time money at the same time he's still a young man and has a lot of earning potential for himself and his family that nobody takes that lightly no matter what you've made in the past does he need it no but it's a business there's a business aspect to this and as you mentioned Josh you want to be valued he's got to see all the other assistants on staff get pay bumps this offseason it's fair to it's fair to ask the question well where's mine and he's recruited as well as anybody on staff at this point you can even go back to just the production the running back room has had since his arrival you know you look at ra Andre Stevenson and what the second half of that 2020 season would have looked like had he not been ready to go because I mean rre was arguably the MVP of the second half as Oklahoma went on that Coy Year big 12 title run with Spencer Rattler at quarterback and then Kennedy Brooks I mean Kennedy Brooks his name is up there amongst some of the best of Oklahoma history because of what he was able to accomplish in just a few years at Oklahoma and then we obviously we saw a breakout Year from Eric gray helped him get drafted by the New York Giants so DeMarco Murray has very much earned the respect and the pursuit of blue blood programs from across the country as well as this extension and pay up from the Oklahoma Sooners we get to know a little bit about the 2025 SEC opponents they're March Madness Bracket Highlight pretty familiar to us though as at this point are we happy are we sad how we feeling about Oklahoma's opponents in 2025 we'll discuss next on lock on Sooners this week March Madness bracket highlight is a brought to you by our friends at Nissan each week we're picking one team that stands out a team that's pushed it further than the rest just like 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streaming Channel programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming locked on sports today brings you can't miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and Josh the the another big Story coming out of uh the Wednesday news cycle was the SEC decided that for the 2025 season they'll continue to play an eight-game conference schedule and the opponents were revealed for basically everybody it's the second half of a home and home stretch uh Oklahoma's 2024 opponents they'll be the same opponents for the Sooners in 2025 except OK we'll flip who visits who so if you aren't familiar the Oklahoma cers in 2024 will play Miss Auburn South Carolina Tennessee Alabama LSU Missouri and Texas obviously the Texas Longhorns so so those games that are going to be home home games for for Oklahoma Tennessee South Carolina and Alabama Oklahoma will go on the road for those the home or the away games in 2024 Oklahoma will host ol Miss uh Auburn LSU thank goodness I don't want to go to Baton Rouge again um Missouri and Auburn so what do you think Josh do you do you like it do you think it's smart does this kind of lay out something maybe for a different format moving forward yeah I uh I don't dislike it I guess uh but I you know I like it because it's an SEC schedule it's exciting uh it makes sense I would sort of characterize it like this I think that the SEC had uh the Easy Button in front of it and it hit the Easy Button I don't know that it's the the best option to me for Oklahoma fans just because again you know you you'd like to see Georgia and Florida I you know to me versus just flip-flopping the opponents home and away I would have liked to have just seen everybody that we hadn't already seen in the SEC from an Oklahoma perspective but again so I forc to choose I'd probably lean more on the dislike than the like on the scale but I'm not super up in arms about it I understand that putting together this uh schedule for this amount of teams is in and of itself challenging and this was kind of for all parties probably pretty easy I'd be curious to know though what the reaction is from Oklahoma fans and then beyond OU and Texas fans I mean how do longtime SEC fans feel about this I would imagine there are some upset feelings that again it's just you know flip the schedule instead of hey we're going to see everybody within the conference over a two-year period like we were kind of sort of promised yeah it's interesting you know I I would have liked to see a different The landscape of college football Group of Seven teams along with Texas as part of it but I think you're right I think this is just Greg sanki and the the decision makers just saying you know what this is going to be the simplest thing for 2025 as we still try to figure out are we going to be an eight game conference schedule or a nine game conference schedule what's the playoff going to look like in 20 you know we found out that in 2026 there's a potential that could go to 14 teams uh with a new deal with ESPN in that $ 1.3 billion college football playoff package so I think they're still maybe trying to figure out okay what is the landscape of college football going to look like because what it looks like today I mean in just a few years time it could look very very different even the conferences the Big 10 the the Big 12 could all look very very different uh when we get to 2026 that making a decision right now based on what you think the conference is going to look like in three years is Maybe a little bit fo Fool's Gold you don't want to look too far ahead because conference reignment is just always happening I think Red Dirt sport says it the best over on Twitter he says conference realignment is always and it's true I mean you're always the it's ever evolving and who knows who could be a part of the SEC when we get to you know year three of Oklahoma and Texas now being a part of the Southeastern Conference so there's a lot that is is interesting here again I would love to see you know Georgia instead of b or you know maybe go see Kentucky instead of Tennessee get that Vanderbilt can we get a little vanderbild on the schedule please please please just once uh and then I I saw somebody mention like still Georgia and Texas A&M um haven't gotten a chance to play each other on the football field yet too which is mindboggling to me that that's even transpired yeah I mean at this point Oklahoma vs Arkansas it's just it's another opportunity to kick that can further down the road just for the entertainment sake of say that it hasn't happened Arkansas again I know that I get clowned on by some for this take but I really would like to see that develop into something for Oklahoma and again I think you know you don't play it to me is a little bit disappointing I I still would love to see a world where Oklahoma gets three permanent opponents and Arkansas is one of them because of the the regionality factor to it but look it's an SEC schedule it's exciting it uh again makes sense for the reasons that we've discussed which is it's simple and uh now nobody feels like hey well wait a second we went to LSU and LSU didn't come here so that part uh you know in Tennessee you know same thing there it's like hey we went to Norman and but oh you didn't come here Alabama same thing so and I don't know what what the athletic uh director's offices if there was some of that from athletic directors John that sort of they were feeding sanki in the SEC office that you know well really we'd rather just complete these as home and homes so you know what I uh what one fan might want is maybe not the same as what athletic directors or the SEC offices clearly wanted here so one final question on this is this more about it's simple or is this about we don't know about eight nine game or is this about expansion in your mind why like if you had those options to pick from why why do we get this scheduling format I'm gonna I'm gonna go with B that we don't SEC 2025 opponent format know about eight or nine games yet this is a conference that's been debating that since Oklahoma in Texas announced that they were moving to the SEC would we play eight conference games in a one by seven you know format or a a 3 by six and a and a nine game schedule how is it all going to work out I don't I just don't think there's been a firm agreement on how they're going to structure that because I mean the the the longstanding annual games in the SEC there is so there are so many of them and trying to figure out how to make everybody happy is g to be a really really difficult task because it goes beyond just Auburn Alabama well Auburn Georgia those two are not in the same division but they have played every year if I'm not mistaken for like ever uh you know Florida LSU I mean cross divisional game that plays every single year so it's trying to figure out how to make all of that work while bringing Oklahoma and Texas into the mix and giving everybody a a chance at Oklahoma and Texas and having those big Brands come home so I think it's still just a matter of okay we haven't quite figured out how to make the new pieces fit so this is again we'll also choose a and this is going to be the simple answer for now as we continue to work over the next two years to figure out how this is all GNA work together I I agree but uh just ACC legal process seeing if I could get you to to bite on option number three there uh option number three is very much a reality and as we see the legal process play out between ACC members and their conference leadership which we're going to discuss next who knows what the future of the SEC holds coming up on locked on Sooners say goodbye to busted brackets because FanDuel FanDuel let you bet on every game of the NCAA tournament whether you're betting on a big upset or that chalk baby that number one seed it's time to go dancing on America's number one sports book because right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets if your first $ Five Doll bet wins that's 200 bucks to use on point spreads money lines you can even pick who's gonna win it all who's cutting down those Nets just visit fanduel.com lockon and bet on college hoops until they cut down the Nets the uh some of the numbers out there for those of you that maybe haven't looked Yukon your your National Champion favorite they're plus 370 Houston a lot of folks a lot of OU fans I think rooting for Kelvin to get his first plus 550 Purdue 7 to1 Arizona 12 to1 North Carolina 18 to1 Tennessee similar odds and similar odds at 18 to1 Iowa State best uh best Big 12 odds Sans Houston they are 20 to one to cut down the Nets and again all of that fanduel.com lockon before we get to this ACC stuff Josh I know you saw this but I wanted to Project Ed share it with our our viewers here on YouTube this is Jacob seon uh Oklahoma's project Ed starting left tackle basically throwing himself out sideways as he's holding on to a pole down there in Brazil as the soul Mission continues to do their community service work uh this one just blew me away like this is a 6 foot5 320 pound dude holding himself up by his arms perpendicular uh or parallel to the ground like like a flag it's just ridiculous Josh I I I I I think Oklahoma's offensive line is going Oklahomas offensive line to be just fine when you have that kind of strength and athleticism um and flexibility that's gonna be man in that left tackle spot was he just literally like hanging on to the pole or was he spinning around what was going on I think he was just like doing that that circus maneuver where you kind of use your leverage and your core and you just hold on to it and kick your legs out sideways and hold yourself up I don't I don't know man it it was quite impressive uh back to college football the ACC man it's got It's got issues they're granted media deal through 2036 it just is poor it's bad it's bad business bad financial decision made by that conference leadership uh it was arguably a bad financial decision made by the the presidents and athletic directors that agreed to the grant of rights but yet you're seeing Florida State now Clemson using litigation and using the court system to try and work their way out of it and so my question to you Josh on this is kind of relative to our schedule discussion that we just had in the last segment is part of why we don't know what the college football landscape going to look like in 2026 partly due to seeing how Florida State's a lawsuit against the ACC and now Clemson's lawsuit against the ACC how that could potentially impact the way our conferences look in 2026 I don't think so from the scheduling front with uh the the SEC but uh I I do think that Greg sanki is very obviously aware of the tectonic plates that are boiling underneath and uh you know I would imagine everybody is uh not naive to this because look I mean this is we knew that Florida state was maneuvering to try and take a slice away from that ACC grant of rights that looks pretty strong I don't I don't know if the Clemson lawsuit is uh enough to tear down the ACC grant of rights either but one thing that's certain is Clemson and Florida State they're gonna try I mean that much is obvious and I think it would be naive to not suspect that both the Big 10 and SEC have legitimate interest in Clemson in Florida State and in a couple of other ACC programs perhaps right uh you know Clemson and Florida State are sort of the obvious two uh you know Clemson because they've won national championships recently Florida State for its history under Bobby Bowen and then of course this past season getting back to to National ramifications and being a national player North Carolina because of basketball and because football's been good Virginia for whatever reason the market I guess that has some folks intrigued uh and then you know maybe a Miami or a couple of others Duke because of uh basketball could be a little bit of a surprise but I would put them well under the radar of some of the other first schools that were listed there but could it lead to expansion absolutely it could lead to expansion do I know definitively that they're about to win this LW suit I don't know that I do I kind of think I favor the ACC on that but uh they're clearly as best they can John trying to maneuver away out of this Grand of rides yeah you listen to ACC leadership talk and they're they're talking pretty confidently uh in that hey everybody signed this Clemson you signed it you know what you got into you made may may have made a bad decision but you still made the decision and you're you're still with us and we expect all of our member schools to be a part of the ACC through the grant of rights agreement it's going to be interesting to see one of the points that Clemson is is making in their lawsuit is kind of intriguing to me I'll be curious to see how the court rules on this is that the ACC is responsible for Clemson's media rights as long as Clemson is a part of the ACC well what if they're not a part of the ACC what what's the acc's role in Clemson's media rights man that and that's just going to be a lot of how do how does a judge interpret all of this stuff uh but it's going to be fascinating to watch I mean if if it does lead to expansion I don't know if Clemson is the best fit with the SEC I think Florida State Miami uh I I think North Carolina would be a fantastic fit as well uh and then find another program even a Virginia Tech you know that that might not be the most obvious choice but a rich football program pretty good baseball program that fits in pretty well with the SEC but again I think you know North Carolina is a slam dunk that's one of those teams you want to go get Duke I think could be a pretty intriguing option as well uh kind of in the similar vein as as Kentucky you know kind of a middle you know mid- tier football program but that Elite basketball program that might be enough to kind of put you over the top and then if you're able to get Duke and North Carolina into the SEC does that raise your basketball profile to be on par with the big 12 uh in future years it's an intriguing uh thing to follow and and I really do think the SEC will expand again down the line it's just a matter of when and how many teams they bring in yeah I think so too and uh it'll be interesting I could see a scenario where a number of these teams you know maybe four go to the SEC two go to the Big 10 and all of a sudden what would that get us to 20 and even 20 in in both and uh if Duke's not one of those teams and what that would mean for the ACC Duke to me would then be a natural fit for the Big 12 that if the ACC kind of craters like we saw the Pack 12 crater then Duke would make sense to join a basketball you know a basketball head league so that could be another Domino to watch down the road if Duke is not ultimately selected as it were for the Big 10 or the SEC though obviously basketball will at least give them a puncher's chance but yeah it's just fascinating man I don't think I mean clearly the musical chairs haven't stopped and Clemson and Florida State have figured out something that it doesn't take a genius to figure out which is uhoh everybody else that we're competing against is about to make a lot more money than us year after year after year year over year and that just is what it is that gets problematic yeah it absolutely does and another final note on this is Brett Outro yar's kind of done a pretty good job at positioning the Big 12 as a basketball conference you know just in the marketing and and how they're getting you know how they do their tournament and just the way that they're promoting the the conference as a basketball conference that could be very intriguing for a team like Virginia or Duke or even North Carolina if they're looking at expansion like hey let's go go to a place that really is going to Value what we put on the hardwood uh each night and each season and that's going to do it for today's episode of lockon Sooners thanks so much for tuning in and being a part of the show subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcast we free and available on all podcast platforms and on YouTube so hit that subscribe button and that notification Bell also go check out uh the locked on sports today National 247 streaming Channel on YouTube now it's available on Amazon Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app locked on sports today is here for you 24/7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of locked on plus our national shows covering every League find locked on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app follow Josh on Twitter Josh Onre myself at john9 Williams the show is at locked on Sooners but until next time he's Josh I'm John Boomer Sooner